CSUN OVERCOMES SLOPPY START HOT SECOND HALF COMPENSATES FOR TURNOVERS IN FIRST CSUN 69, LBSU 53.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - At some point, Cal State Northridge's maddening first-half outings will cost dearly. The Matadors were a turnover machine for 20 minutes, but luckily for them, this game wasn't against a Big West power such as Pacific or Utah State.

CSUN could afford mistakes against Long Beach State, which has won just two games this season. But the Matadors were hot in the second half, when senior guard Davin White scored 17 of his career-high 28 points to lead CSUN to a 69-53 rout Saturday at the Pyramid.

Two days earlier, CSUN trailed UC Irvine by 11 points on the road, but the Matadors outscored the Anteaters by 25 in the second half. CSUN started the second half Saturday with a 9-2 run, sparked by two inside shots from freshman Calvin Chitwood and a jumper and 3-pointer from Ian Boylan.

No matter how CSUN starts - it began the season 1-6 - it knows how to finish. CSUN (6-7) outscored the 49ers 41-27 in the second half and won its fourth consecutive game. The Matadors improved to 4-1 in the Big West Conference and maintained third place.

CSUN shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half and played even better on the defensive end in front of a crowd of 1,654. In the past four games, CSUN has held its opponents to an average of 49.5 points per game, despite shaky first halves.

``I don't know what it is with these slow starts, if it's the bus ride over or what,'' CSUN coach Bobby Braswell said. ``I thought that was critical for us to come out in the second half and establish ourselves early. I felt they were on the edge. I didn't want to be the team they broke out on.''

CSUN stumbled its way to a 28-26 lead halftime after 11 first-half turnovers. It had just five in the second half. Starting center Thomas Shewmake and starting power forward Eto Onyenegecha each picked up two early fouls in the first half. Shewmake played just five minutes in the first half and Onyenegecha seven.

Boylan, who leads the team in scoring, had just four points at halftime but that is also because he took just four shots. But Boylan did his thing in the second half, as did White.

Boylan finished with 19 points and became CSUN's all-time career 3-point leader with 150. He broke former All-American Brian Heinle's mark, set in 2001.

White made 10 of 15 shots and 5 of 7 3-point attempts.

``I was telling myself that I'd been in a slump so I was in the gym more,'' White said. ``(Assistant) coach (Danny Sprinkle) and I were in the gym a lot putting up extra shots. I wasn't worried about offense that much. If you play defense, offense will come to you.''

The 49ers have struggled to get wins and are last in the Big West in scoring at 60.1 points per game. But they have lost plenty of close games, including an overtime loss to Pepperdine. Long Beach State's Jibril Hodges had a team-high 14 points and center Onye Ibekwe had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Long Beach State (2-11, 0-4), finished with 22 turnovers.

Jill Painter, [phone]

jill.painter(at)dailynews.com